Blackout

Here I am fighting another summer without you.
Just smile the way you did, get me through.
I loved everything about you, June.
And I'm missing the hell out of you calling me "Blue".

That light, I couldn't hide anything from.
With open arms, I could trust someone.
Through all of this darkness, you still are my sun.
And to your ghost, I still run ...
No matter how lively or undone I become.

There are certain smells that wreck me to hell,
Reminding me that I'm still unwell.
But in you, I still confide so well.

In this world, I feel oh so small.
And the line's been cut, but I still call.
Its a pick-me-up, dust-me-off ...
Every single time that I fall.

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Editor’s Note

The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”